Test Version of Opera 10.5 for Linux

Norwegian software specialist Opera has released an early test version for Linux of its 10.5 browser.

In the Opera developers blog, Arjan van Leeuwen describes the features of the new release and especially highlights the HTML5 standard video tag. Opera 10.5 is its first implementation of the video element. Among the changes deemed "radical" is removing the Qt libraries dependency from the Linux browser. Opera can then be installed under Linux without needing the graphical toolkit.

The UNIX version of Opera 10.5 includes the new JavaScript engine code-named Carakan. The prerelease character of the browser will probably be more evident to 64-bit system users than 32-bit system users in that Carakan tends toward instability with 64-bit. Van Leeuwen's download warning is fairly clear: "[this build] will crash, burn and eat the occasional small household appliance." The blog entry includes links to downloads for all platforms. The Linux versions are at snapshot.opera.com.

The Opera Unite feature promised in Opera 10 would make it easier for users to collaborate on files, but needed to undergo some thorough testing. The Norwegian browser vendor now delivers it in Opera 10.10.